The racers went out of the chute like a bunch of willful rockets. As I had mentally predicted, many racers were plying their vehicles for all they were worth early in the race, and these racers commanded an early lead. Here comes the "Pack" (the group of extra racers thrown in for color), followed by the ominous Texas Ranger Steam Tank (AKA "The Enforcer"). Gomez and Anna look on, bewildered, in front of their little hut. You can see the tail end of the Anarchist Skatesail, piloted by Mike Bakunin, Teen Anarchist, on the extreme left.
DISASTER STRIKES!
The racer running the Dowd Steam Car performs a REDLINE action, which is intentionally
straining the conveyance. Unfortunately, this comes with an explosion check (and the
Dowd, being a hastily riveted together contraption, has some vulnerability to explosions).
The player running the team tried a saving roll, failed, tried again, failed (and
because I didn't want the Dowd to blow so early) tried AGAIN and failed. This was
fate talking. Elwood, the Car, and presumably, Harvey, went up in a giant whoosh of
steam, rivets, steel plates, and bits of gristle. Three of the conveyances
surrounding the Dowd went down to failed balance checks and one of the racers took a wound
hit.
So much for non-lethal combat, eh?
Undaunted, our pack moves on, and surprisingly, the
Wind Wagon, piloted by "The Commodore" and crewed by the good ladies of the Cow
Town Temperance Society, lumbers into a dominating position in the race. BOOZE
KILLS!, the Wind Wagon's official conveyance name, is seen here just behind Don Diego
(known as the Rat), The Birdman of Biloxi, and the Flying Carpet of Baghdad.
Unfortunately, she gets rammed at one point, fails a severe balance check and goes over:
The good ladies leap out and set about righting the Wind Wagon (and the Commodore, who's ego is bruised). The crash was inopportune for other racers as well, causing navigation problems for the Count (middle), LT Albobrandini (the Gotfredi Steam Bicycle), Captain Munoz, Egg Chen and Chief Pantagruel on the Arapaho Steam Pony. Don Diego escapes the carnage and peddles away, snickering "Vamos, muchachos!" It didn't help that the first Spoiler in the race, a Chinese Jingal team in the employ of Egg Chen, the Crimson Mandarin, were now targeting the racers. Below, we see the intrepid "Pack" closing up the rear, with Egg Chen and Mike Bakunin, teen anarchist, as the tail end charlies. In the right rear corner, you can just make out the smoking wreckage of the Dowd Steam car behind the Ranger Enforcer Steam Tank.
At this point, DISASTER STRIKES AGAIN! LT Albobrandini, concerned over the loss of time from the Wind Wagon traffic jam, redlines is engine. Again, an unforeseen stretch of bad luck causes the Gotfredi to explode, dispatching the good LT and wounding some other racers (presumably, with bits of LT Albobrandini) The Wind Wagon was soon righted, but lost ground going up a steep slope, then crashed into some pine trees, entangling the rigging.
You can see the Wind Wagon's race card from this angle, and he doesn't have much energy left. Why? Because the Count, curse him, pulled up next to the Wind Wagon and used his special power to leech some energy from the hapless Wind Wagon's crew! Drat! Also in the picture are the Jingal Spoiler, the Media wagon (you couldn't "cheat" in line of sight of the Media Wagon, the Referee, or the Queen... it isn't the done thing, you know!). Notice this: The flyers-- the Birdman and the Flying Carpet of Baghdad... now have a substantial lead. Hmmm. Could it be the terrain situation? I'll have to fix this!
The Wind Wagon was not the only conveyance to suffer a damage result. The Bat Coach loses a wheel spoke in the crash, and the count, grumbling due to the bright sunlight (he's pretty anemic), had to get out and effect a FIX action on his conveyance. You can see the wreckage of the Gotfredi here, as well as the Jingal Spoiler team.
Again, the good ladies of the Temperance Society performed yeoman service, climbing the rigging with clasp knives to free up the trapped conveyance. Alas, the other racers now had a substantial lead, eliminating the Wind Wagon as a major contender for the rest of the race. Soon, the happy throng was heading into the Canyon of Doom, at the bottom of this picture here.
You can just make out the second Spoiler team, the Anarchist Nannies, in league with Mike Bakunin on the Skatesail. In an effort to smash the state, they chuck a few bombs here and there, and really only cause two rockslides (did I mention I make Spoilers INTENTIONALLY incompetent? Nobody likes to be gunned down by random events). The rockslides were a major annoyance, causing traffic jams galore in the narrow canyon.
One unforeseen event was the explosions from the Nannies happened very close to the Media Wagon, spooking the horses and sending them to the hills. We rolled to see if they would reenter every subsequent turn, but they never did. I bet they got some interesting pictures!